Juan Pablo Montoya scored a dramatic pole this afternoon in Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying at Pocono Raceway, leading a 1-2 run for Team Penske.

IndyCar championship leader Will Power appeared to have the pole wrapped up when he threw down a two-lap average of 223.725 miles per hour late in the session.

But on the final run, Montoya out-hustled the Australian with his two-lap average of 223.871 in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. The run was good enough to set both one-lap (223.920, Lap 1) and two-lap track records at the Tricky Triangle.

“It’s a first step, but we’re going in the right direction,” Montoya told IndyCar Radio after earning the 15th career pole of his open-wheel career and the first since returning to IndyCar.

“It’s nice to be on pole, and now we need to start getting some wins…I think we’ve got a good car. We’ll see what it brings.”

Montoya’s efforts made sure that Power – who leads Penske teammate Helio Castroneves in the championship by 39 points going into tomorrow’s Pocono IndyCar 500 (Noon ET, NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra) – narrowly missed out on his third pole of the season

“I probably lifted a little bit too much in [Turn] 1, but I knew Montoya was going to be tough to beat,” Power said. “He ran a little bit more downforce, so since I wasn’t flat – yeah, I think he probably went wide-open.”

Andretti Autosport rookie Carlos Munoz was the only other driver outside Montoya and Power to have an average above the 223 mph mark. He turned in an average of 223.083 in his No. 34 Cinsay Honda.

Takuma Sato qualified fourth with an average of 222.798 mph that held the provisional pole until Power made his way onto the track.

Two more Andretti drivers, Marco Andretti and James Hinchcliffe, followed in fifth and sixth. Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, and a pair of Ryans – Hunter-Reay, then Briscoe – settled in Positions 7-10.

One incident took place during qualifying as Josef Newgarden slid up the track and made contact with the wall in Turn 1.